Last year (2017) the Pew Research Center released a poll in which Americans were asked to rate different religious groups…

Last year (2017) the Pew Research Center released a poll in which Americans were asked to rate different religious groups by the warmth of the feelings they inspired. This was a unique survey that used “feelings thermometer” on a scale of 1 to 100 to measure status of a religious group within the hearts of the people. The top position was given to Jews who scored above mainline Protestants and Catholics. The lowest ranking groups were Muslims and atheists.

Muslims reaction to this survey could easily be imagined. As people with low morale, they will immediately call it either a conspiracy to degrade Muslims or a planned manipulation of results of the survey to put Muslims down. But, considering the reputation of the Pew Research Center and acceptance of their data worldwide, objectively should force Muslims to think why they rank so low.

Yes, there are inherent biases among Christians orginating from churches’ Sunday schools and sermons from their pulpits where Islam is usually portrayed as a false religion, Muslims cultish and their Prophet a heretic, and also from the media that is often quick to label Muslims as terrorists and Islam a violent religion. These aside, the question is; Are Muslims not responsible for generating such a poor opinion about themselves and their religion? Here indeed lies the most significant reason why they are ranked so low – their heartless killing of innocent people, a narrow-minded religious extremism, their unruly and ruthless leaders who they are impotent to get rid of, and their cocooned religious scholars having no clue to the demands of the modern world.